Air feeder for auxiliary jobs in machine tools

ABSTRACT

An air feeder for auxiliary jobs in such machine tools as a press machine provided with moving bolsters, comprising a header on the fixed side which is provided on a frame, a header on the movable side which is provided on a moving bolster, an air valve which is movably disposed in the fixed side header, and a coiled spring which is arranged inside the fixed side header. The coiled spring normally urges the air valve into its closed position, so that no air is fed from an air chamber defined in the fixed side header. When the movable side header is lowered with the descent of the bolster, the air valve is depressed and brought into its open position, so that compressed air is fed from the air chamber through the air valve to an air distributing pipe located on the bolster side.

United States Patent 1 1 Yasuhara et a1. Oct. 7, 1975 [54] AIR FEEDERFOR AUXILIARY JOBS IN 2,988,234 6/1961 Barothy et al. lOO/DIG. 18MACHINE OOL 3,002,479 10/1961 Johansen. et al. IOO/DIG. 18 3,455,1417/1969 Bracco et a1 72/446 [75] Inventors: Nariyoshi Yasuhara; Fukuo ffl f Toyota; Primary ExaminerBilly .1. Wilhite Yoshmon FUJI" h" of JapanAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Stevens, Davis, Miller & ['73] Assignee: ToyotaJidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Mosher Kaisha, Toyota, Japan 22 Filed: May 7,1974 [57] ABSTRACT An air feeder for auxiliary jobs in such machinetools [211 App!" 467318 as a press machine provided with movingbolsters,

comprising a header on the fixed side which is pro- [30] F i Applicationpriority Data vided on a frame, a header on the movable side which M 11,1973 J 48-52798 is pmvded a moving bolster an air Valve which is ay apanmovably disposed in the fixed side header, and a [52] us CL 100/224,72/446 coiled spring which is arranged inside the fixed side [51] Int.Cl l I l B36) 15/02 header. The coiled spring normally urges the airvalve [58] Field D into its closed position, so that no air is fed froman air 75/446 chamber defined in the fixed side header. When the movableside header is lowered with the descent of the [56] References Citedbolster, the air valve is depressed and brought into its open position,so that compressed air is fed from the UNITED STATES PATENTS air chamberthrough the air valve to an air distributing X located on the bolsteride y er l. 2,543,498 2 1951 Japikse 100/D1G. 18 2 Claims, 5 Drawing gus US. Patent O ct.7,1975 Sh eet10f2 3,910,180

leivi 5o U.S. Patent 0a. 7,1975 Sheet2 0f2 3,910,180

WI 6b 6' AIR FEEDER FOR AUXILIARY JOBS IN MACHINE TOOLS BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates toan air feeder for auxiliary jobs in machine tools, mainly in pressmachines provided with cross-moving bolsters and side-moving bolsters.

2. Description of the Prior Art A variety of devices are employed forthe loading and unloading of a work as automation in a press workingequipment etc. In order to effectively usethe equipment, a lifter,gauge, guide etc. are required inside press 'dies' and they need beactuated in timing with the working equipment.

In general, the lifter,gauge, guide etc. In the dies of the pressequipment are actuated by'air cylinders. As their air source, compressedair is taken out from a press machine by air hoses. The timing of theactuation is controlled by a rotary cam switch of the press ma chine.The air hoses twice as many as the lifter, gauge, guide etc. in the diesneed be disposed'between the dies and the press machine.

On the other side, the thin-plate press working etc. are of the lotproduction in many cases. Several dies are allotted to one machine, andare successively used in the working. This necessitates the arrangementsjob of detaching and attaching the dies. It is the present situationthat the job of the detachment and attachment of the air hoses is alsocarried out at the arrangements job.

Usually, the arrangements jobs account for approximately 30% of thetotal time of operationof the press machine. V I

In order to shorten the time of the arrangements operation, a pressmachine with moving bolsters is often employed. As regards thedetachment and attachment of the air hoses, the quick joint system hasbeen proposed.

Withthese measures, however, as the automation becomes more complicatedand more advanced;the number of the .air hoses increase more, whichhinders the shortening of the time required for the arrangementsoperation. Withthe increase, of the number of the hoses, connectingportions are liable to mistakes. In a large-sized press machine, thehandling of the air hoses takes time due to' the increase of the lengthsand num ber "ofthe air hoses Since an operator goes into and out of thepress madhine, there are various problems in point of the safety. r i

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is toprovide an air feeder with which, merely by inserting dies into a pressmachine -by means of moving bolsters, the coupling of an air hosebetweenthe press machine and the dies can be automatically made reliably andreadily.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air feeder inwhich the lower end surface of a header on the movable. side secured toa bolster and the upper end surface of a header on the fixed sidesecured toa frame are formed into flat surfaces, respectively, and theconnecting portion between both the flat surfaces are joined by anO-ring, so that the airtight-connection between the movable side headerand the fixed side header can be made reliably and readily.

With the prior-art quick joint, air leakage, arises at its release. Inthis respect,=an-object of the present invention is to provide an. airfeeder'with which, an air valve adapted to operate in tune. with theup-anddownmotion of a header on the movable side is utilized so that noair leakage occurs, and the motion of a bolster is utilized so that anydriving mechanism for only the air feeder is not required. I I

A further object of the present invention is to eliminate the necessityfor the arrangements job of attaching and detaching air hoses even in amachine, such as press machine, which has a plurality of bolsters, andto thereby shorten the rest time of the machine sharply in comparisonwith that in the prior-art device.

A still further objectof the present invention is to I eliminate thenecessity for performing the connection of air hoses by putting the bodyinto dies, the necessity having been encounted in case of a large-sizedpress etc.,- and to thereby obviate danger in operations and prevent thetrouble of damage of the dies ascribable to an incorrect connection'ofthe hose- BRIIEF DESCRIPTION OF HE DRAWINGS These and other objects andadvantages of the invention may be readily ascertained by referring tothe following description and appended drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a press machine with cross-movingbolsters;

FIG. 2 is a side view corresponding to FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section showing the essential portions ofan air feeder according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section showing the operative' state ofthe portions in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing another embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate anaspect of performance in which the air feeder ofethe present inventionis applied to a press machine having cross-moving bolsters A and Headers1 on the movable side are secured to the end surfaces a and b of thebolsters A and'B on'the same.

side, respectively. At that position of a frame F which corresponds tothe movable side header 1 when the bolster A or B is fixed into thepress machine, a header 4 on the fixed side is secured. When the bolsterA or B is fixed onto the frame F, the movable side header I and thefixed side header 4 are coupled,and air supply passages formed in therespective headers are caused to communicate;

- In the embodiment, the movable side header lsecured to the bolster A,which carries out the up-and down motion after moving into the frame Fof the press machine; is formed with 'the air passage 3 of predetermineddiametrical dimension vertically upwards from 1 its fiat lower endsurface 2. The air passage 3 communicateswith pipes for distributing airto various appliances which are additionally provided on theside of=thebolster 'A. 1 I

Directly under the lower end .surface 2of the header 1, the fixed sideheader4 is disposed with a predetermined spacing therefrom. g 7

Within the fixed side header 4, an air chamber .5 is definedby apartition plate 6 which is the seat of a spring to be described later.The air chamberS is shut off from the open air by means of an O-ring 7which is disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the partition plate6. The partition plate 6 is integrally supported by means ofa mountingseat 8 which is disposed at the back thereof.

Over the air chamber 5, a hole for sliding 9 which communicates with theair chamber is formed in a.

manner to penetrate up to a flat upper end surface 10 of the header 4.The axis of the hole 9 is coincident with the axis of the air passage 3formed in the bolster Arranged within the hole 9 is an air valve 11which A of the supply passage 14, branch passages 15, forbringing theair chambers 5 and the air supply passage 14 into communication arepenetratingly provided in several places in a manner to orthogonallyintersect with the supply passage 14 and to extend towards the outerperiphery of the air valve 11.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the branch passages 15,

15 are formed at suchpositions that the air chamber 5 and the air supplypassage 14 are brought into the communicating state during the operatingperiod and that the communication between the air chamber 5 and thesupply passage 14 is cut off during the non-operating period.

On the upper end surface 12 and the outer peripheral surface 13 of theair valve 11, there are respectively arranged O-rings l6 and 17 forholding airtightness during the operating period. To a lower-end sidesurface 110 of the air valve 11, a seal seat for holding airtightness 18adapted to cooperate with an upper wall 50 of the air chamber 5 isintegrally secured by a mounting ring 19. Between the mounting ring 19and the partition plate 6, the coiled spring 20 is disposed. The coiledspring 20 normally urges the air valve 11 to the position shown in FIG.'3. That is, it acts so that the seal seat 18 may be pressed against theupper wall 50 of the air chamber 5 to maintain the hermetic sea] state.

The air chamber 5 is supplied with compressed air through a connectionport which is provided in a suitable place as shown by chain lines 60 or40..

The air feeder of the present invention is constructed as describedabove. In operation, with the descending motion of the bolster A or'B,the lower end surface 2 of the header 1 comes into contact with theupper end surface 12 of the air valve 11. At the same time, the header 1and the air valve 11 are closely contacted under tha airtight state bythe O-ring 16 disposed on the upper end surface 12. The coiled spring 20disposed within the air chamber 5 is depressed and contracted to lowerthe air valve 11.'In the lowered air valve 11, the branch passages l5,15 having openings 150, 150 at several parts of thelower-end outerperipheral surface of the valve come away from the lower end of the hole9 and face the air chamber 5. Simultaneously therewith, the air withinthe air chamber 5 passes through the branch passages 15, I5, and issupplied via the air supply passage 14 into the air passage 3 of theheader 1. The air valve 11 at the air supply is quite free fromairleakage by the action of the O-rings I6 and 17 disposed on the upperend surface 12 and the outer peripheral surface 13 thereof.

When. upon completion of a predetermined forming work, the bolster Ashifts to the ascending motion, the header 1 also ascends, Owing to theelastic force of the coiled spring 20, the air valve 11 issimultaneously pushed up while holding the airtightness of theconnecting part. As soon as the openings 150, 150 of the branch passages15, 15 of the air valve 11 are perfectly piunged into the hole 9, theair feed is automatically cut off. At the same time, the upper part ofthe air chamber 5 is hermetically sealed by the seal seat 18. Theconnec'tion between the lower end surface 2 of the header 1 and theupper end surface 12 of the air valve 11 is released.

In the: manner described above, a predetermined amount of air isautomatically fed by means of the fixed side header 4 and the movableside header 1 which rises and falls integrally with the ascending anddescending motions of the bolster A.

While the foregoing embodiment effects the contact and separationbetween the headers by making use of the up-and-down motions of thecross-moving bolsters,

it is a matter of course that the invention is similarly applicable toside-moving bolsters C and D as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The device of the present invention can be applied not only to the pressmachine, but also to other machine tools in wide range.

' What we claim is:

1. In machine tools such as a press machine provided v withmoving-bolsters,

an air feeder in the machine tools comprising:

a header on a fixed side which is installed on a frame and which has aflat upper-end surface;

an air chamber which is defined inside the fixed side header;

a hole portion which is formed in an upper wall of said air chamber,which communicates with said air chamber and which opens to said upperend surface;

an air valve which is disposed in said hole portion in a manner to bevertically movable,

said air valve being provided with an air supply passage which extendsvertically upwards and which has a bottom wall, and branch passageswhich intersect orthogonally with said supply passage at its lower endpart, seal members being respectively arranged on an upper end part, anouter peripheral surface and a lower-end side surface of said air valve;

a coiled spring which is interposed between a lower surface of saidbottom wall of said air valve and a lower wall of said air chamber sothat said air valve may be normally held at a cut-off position beingnon-operative position;

a header ona movable side which is installed on a moving bolster andwhich has a flat lower-end surface; and

an air passage which is provided vertically upwards from said lower endsurface of the moving side header;

said air passage and said air chamber coming into communication onlywhen said movable side header and said fixed side header are held incontact.

2. The air feeder in the machine tools according to claim 1, whereinsaid lower wall of said air chamber is

1. In machine tools such as a press machine provided with movingbolsters, an air feeder in the machine tools comprising: a header on afixed side which is installed on a frame and which has a flat upper-endsurface; an air chamber which is defined inside the fixed side header; ahole portion which is formed in an upper wall of said air chamber, whichcommunicates with said air chamber and which opens to said upper endsurface; an air valve which is disposed in said hole portion in a mannerto be vertically movable, said air valve being provided with an airsupply passage which extends vertically upwards and which has a bottomwall, and branch passages which intersect orthogonally with said supplypassage at its lower end part, seal members being respectively arrangedon an upper end part, an outer peripheral surface and a lower-end sidesurface of said air valve; a coiled spring which is interposed between alower surface of said bottom wall of said air valve and a lower wall ofsaid air chamber so that said air valve may be normally held at a cutoffposition being non-operative position; a header on a movable side whichis installed on a moving bolster and which has a flat lower-end surface;and an air passage which is provided vertically upwards from said lowerend surface of the moving side header; said air passage and said airchamber coming into communication only when said movable side header andsaid fixed side header are held in contact.
 2. The air feeder in themachine tools according to claim 1, wherein said lower wall of said airchamber is formed by a partition plate being a seat of said spring, andsaid partition plate is supported integrally with said fixed side headerby a mounting seat disposed at the back of said partition plate.